On July 27, 2021, Chap­ter 26 of Hol­ly Gibney’s inves­ti­ga­tion takes a new turn when she receives a call from Emilio Her­rera, an employ­ee at Jet Mart, about a reg­u­lar cus­tomer who mys­te­ri­ous­ly van­ished. The miss­ing per­son in ques­tion, Cary Dressler, was a famil­iar face at the con­ve­nience store, often stop­ping in for his favorite high-caf­feine sodas. Known for his laid-back demeanor, long blond hair, and a dis­tinc­tive moped cov­ered in stick­ers, Cary was a fig­ure that most locals rec­og­nized. Emilio’s con­cern about Cary’s dis­ap­pear­ance sparks Holly’s curios­i­ty, espe­cial­ly when she learns that he was last seen fre­quent­ing the store dur­ing the polit­i­cal­ly charged atmos­phere sur­round­ing Trump’s cam­paign.

Dig­ging deep­er into Cary’s life, Hol­ly uncov­ers his fond­ness for Dri­ve-In Rock, a seclud­ed area where he would often watch movies, indulging in his soli­tary yet seem­ing­ly con­tent lifestyle. This detail intrigues Hol­ly, as it sug­gests that Cary found com­fort in rou­tines and places of qui­et retreat. His habits, while unas­sum­ing, make his dis­ap­pear­ance all the more sus­pi­cious, espe­cial­ly when jux­ta­posed against his known reli­a­bil­i­ty and estab­lished com­mu­ni­ty ties. Hol­ly begins to won­der if his van­ish­ing is con­nect­ed to some­thing far more delib­er­ate than it ini­tial­ly appears.

Holly’s inves­tiga­tive jour­ney takes her to key loca­tions linked to Cary, includ­ing Jet Mart and Strike Em Out Lanes, where he had worked as a league sched­uler. Con­ver­sa­tions with indi­vid­u­als from these places reveal a mul­ti­fac­eted image of Cary—not just a casu­al work­er or ston­er, but a dili­gent employ­ee and a kind soul who left a last­ing impres­sion on those around him. Haver­ty, the own­er of the bowl­ing alley, recounts how Cary was instru­men­tal in keep­ing the league orga­nized and describes him as some­one who had over­come per­son­al strug­gles to build a sta­ble life. The sud­den­ness of his dis­ap­pear­ance, cou­pled with his unclaimed pay­check, rais­es even more ques­tions, sug­gest­ing a forced depar­ture rather than a vol­un­tary one.

As Hol­ly con­nects the dots, a trou­bling pat­tern emerges. Cary’s dis­ap­pear­ance is not an iso­lat­ed inci­dent; oth­er miss­ing per­sons cas­es seem to be tied to the Red Bank Avenue area. The eerie prox­im­i­ty of these cas­es sets off alarm bells for Hol­ly, who begins to sus­pect that a preda­tor might be lever­ag­ing their inti­mate knowl­edge of the community’s vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties. Her inves­ti­ga­tion now extends beyond Cary, as she real­izes she could be uncov­er­ing the traces of a larg­er, more sin­is­ter threat lurk­ing in plain sight.

Haverty’s insights into Cary’s past reveal a young man who was resilient, work­ing hard to dis­tance him­self from a trou­bled his­to­ry. Movies and work became his sanc­tu­ary, offer­ing him sta­bil­i­ty and a sense of pur­pose. Hol­ly pours over pho­tographs from the bowl­ing alley’s team archives, notic­ing Cary’s promi­nent pres­ence in the images and the pal­pa­ble void his absence has left among the team. His pop­u­lar­i­ty and con­tri­bu­tions to the bowl­ing com­mu­ni­ty make the mys­tery of his dis­ap­pear­ance even more unset­tling.

Fur­ther inquiries lead Hol­ly to Hugh Clip­pard, anoth­er mem­ber of the bowl­ing com­mu­ni­ty, who might hold crit­i­cal infor­ma­tion about Cary’s life and habits. The pos­si­bil­i­ty of a preda­tor exploit­ing vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties with­in the com­mu­ni­ty weighs heav­i­ly on Hol­ly, rein­forc­ing her sense of urgency. Her per­son­al con­nec­tion to the case deep­ens, dri­ven by an empa­thy for Cary and an unwa­ver­ing deter­mi­na­tion to find the truth.

Holly’s method­i­cal inves­ti­ga­tion high­lights the del­i­cate bal­ance between com­mu­ni­ty and iso­la­tion, where seem­ing­ly mun­dane lives can hold dark secrets. Each step for­ward paints a clear­er pic­ture of Cary Dressler’s life—a man caught between the sim­ple joys of rou­tine and the com­plex web of human con­nec­tions that tied him to his com­mu­ni­ty. As Hol­ly delves deep­er, the shad­ows with­in the Red Bank Avenue area grow more pro­nounced, leav­ing her to con­front the chill­ing real­iza­tion that Cary’s dis­ap­pear­ance might only be the begin­ning of a much larg­er sto­ry.

The chap­ter under­scores Holly’s relent­less pur­suit of answers, blend­ing metic­u­lous detec­tive work with an empa­thet­ic under­stand­ing of human nature. Cary’s dis­ap­pear­ance becomes more than just a case—it trans­forms into a lens through which Hol­ly uncov­ers the fragili­ty and resilience of the peo­ple she encoun­ters. As the pieces begin to align, Hol­ly knows the truth is with­in reach, but also that find­ing it may lead her to face some­thing far more dan­ger­ous than she had antic­i­pat­ed.